WSJ "Trump's campaign to expel illegal aliens from Democratic strongholds"

The Wall Street Journal reported that the second U.S. Donald Trump administration will launch a large-scale deportation operation starting in Chicago, Illinois, the day after his inauguration.

The U.S. ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will mobilize hundreds of employees throughout the week to crack down, arrest and deport them from Chicago starting Tuesday morning, the 21st.

Authorities are targeting immigrants who are not deported and stay illegally even though they have a criminal history, but if they find other illegal aliens during the arrest operation, they will arrest them regardless of their criminal history.

Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration's transition team decided to launch a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants and chose Chicago as an example among the so-called "shelter cities" that have been passive in cooperation with the crackdown.

Chicago, former President Barack Obama's political home and Democratic stronghold, is an area with many illegal immigrants, and current Mayor Brandon Johnson has been at odds with Trump over the crackdown on illegal immigrants.

In the United States, the authority to crack down on illegal aliens rests with federal agencies such as ICE.Local governments, such as

, do not have their own enforcement powers and may cooperate with federal agencies by sharing information or delegating detention powers.Refuge cities such as

Chicago are places that do not cooperate.

In response, former acting ICE Director Tom Homan, who was nominated as Trump's second "border tsar," predicted that he would start a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants when he visited Chicago late last year.

"If the mayor of Chicago doesn't want to help, he can stand aside, but if he interferes with illegal aliens in a way that protects or hides them, he will take criminal prosecution," he said.

The Wall Street Journal said ICE is not sure how many illegal aliens are actually trying to arrest, but Trump's transition team is discussing cooperation with conservative media to promote the arrest attempt.

After Chicago, New York, New York, Los Angeles, California, Denver, Colorado, and Miami, Florida are expected to be the next targets.